Author
Topic: Los Angeles and pizza (Read 5634 times)

Okay so I've become somewhat of a pizza fanatic over the past year and have now moved back to Los Angeles. I thought great, big city, great pizza. But here's the thing. I want an authentic Naples style pizza. And i want it to be good. Where is this place? I've been all over yelp and ive seen places mentioned here on the forum but none of them are true Naples style. I was just in new York and there were tons of places. But I can't find one in LA or the surrounding area. I'll drive! Someone please help! Yes I know about mozza and other places but those aren't what I'm looking for. I'm sure they are great, and I'll probably try them. Just need to complete this search first.

You have to head up to San Fran. They have a bunch of places there like A16, Flour+Water, Delfina, & Una Pizza Napoletana is opening next week. There is also Pizzaiolo in Oakland, CA. Those are the places I can think of off the top of my head but I beat there are more.

I am not sure why they get bad reviews? I have never had a bad pizza there and the service is exceptional. They always take time to chat with me about pizza making, even giving me a tour of the operation and letting me shape a few dough balls.

I checked out the pics of antica pizza and to be honest they look better than anything else so far I've seen online. Thanks for the suggestion. But yes I did notice lots of subpar reviews on yelp. Bu yelp is not always to be trusted with something like pizza when you can find dominos with 4 stars. I just try to make judgment based on reviews from people who sound like they actually know pizza.

In Long Beach try La Parolaccia on Broadway. This is a gem that is tucked away between Belmont Shore and downtown Long Beach. This place has a nice neighborhood vibe that is something very special.http://www.laparolacciausa.com/longbeach.html

I would also agree with Tony about Pizzeria Ortica, give it a try! When I was there I really enjoyed the Salsiccia and the Salame piccante e funghi.

I know this old topic I started is a little dead, but I thought I'd post some results. I went to antica pizza in marina del Rey with my dad and brother and had a great time there. The pizza was okay but the atmosphere and apps were great. The flavor of the pizza dough was a little lacking, it was slightly to tough for me and the crumb really left me wanting. The waiter also didn't speak great English so that was a bit of a downside because I wanted to chat pizza and shape some dough balls like a previous poster had mentioned.

I also went to pizza ortica in costa Mesa. Kind of a weird restaurant, weird parking, and the environment didn't feel as nice as the previous, maybe just because it has like 50 foot ceilings and is shaped like a bowling alley. But I do think the flavor was actually better here. It seems like they are probably using very different starters and I prefered this pizza. I went back and took my wife and it wasn't nearly as good tho a second time. I think whoever was supposed to go in and heat the oven was late or something because my pizza was timed at about 4:25. That's much too long, while the flavor was still good, the texture was destroyed. Also a very poor crumb both times I went which was the same as antica.

Just for a side note my wife and I were at Disneyland and ate at Naples which claims tradational authentic pies. They had the right stuff, caputo, marasmus etc, but the pizza had no soul. Only eat there I'd you already there for something else.

if you go to antica the pizza can be up and down. the oven is kept at lower temperatures on slow nights. weekends they crank it up to handle the increased pizza demand. they sell a lot more non pizza menu items than they do pizza. it is a training store for the vpn school, so your pizza could be made by a really new cook. if you ask that they have either jose barros or an experienced house employee make your pizza ,you will get a good pie.i did the training and i would not have been happy with some of the pies i made the first couple of days.now, a normal customer might not know the difference, but this group sure would.

We love Antica Pizzeria! It is our annual New Years Eve outing:) Honestly, I rarely get their pizza, because I love many of their other dishes, but my son loves their pizza and it is as close to Naples as you will find.

I usually make pizza at home, but here are a few pizza places worth trying:

Villa Italian, Culver City, rectangular, Sicilian style. The original owner for over 30 years was from Chicago. There are new owners twice over, but the pizza is still pretty good.

http://www.charliesitalian.com/...formerlyCialuzzi's in Redondo Beach. They recently renovated and offer pizza 3 ways...Sicilian, Jersey style (very thin), New York style. Love their sausage. It now has a sports bar section, and a family dining section.

Valentino's in El Segundo/Manhattan Beach is pretty good. The crust is pretty soft, but their sauce is very good.

Thanks for the other suggestions, to be honest I'm not sure if I'll travel if it's not for Neapolitan pie. Also we did order apps when went to antica and there were also wonderful. My family always seems to order a caprese calamari.

Sad to see them go. I really liked hanging out there before work. I always got in a good chat with Pepe. He was always willing to teach me a few things about Neapolitan pizza. I heard they were closing, so I stopped in 3 times in the last 2 weeks for dinner and a bag of Caputo. I am looking forward to their reopening.